


unafraid (you can name your scars)

by blackkat



Series: Horoscope Drabbles [34]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, Kings & Queens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 21:03:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17393672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: There's something moving in the depths of the armory.





	unafraid (you can name your scars)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Normal Horoscopes on Tumblr:
> 
> Aquarius: An armory of scales and chitin, seemingly abandoned.

There's something moving in the depths of the armory.

Sakura catches glimpses of it, half an instant at a time, just a flash of movement between piles of armor and weapons leaning against shelves. It’s something bright, even in the midst of colorful chitin armor and glossy scale-mail, something quick, and she hurries after it, leaping over piles of shields like carapaces and almost tripping over maces with leaf-blades and mandible-jaws.

Another flash, up ahead, and this time Sakura catches a flutter of gossamer wings that makes her breath catch. She grabs one edge of a shelf, gets her foot on the wall and kicks off hard, hauling herself up onto the wide top of the cabinet and spinning upright just in time to duck a knife that skims over her head. Something gold and green vanishes down another row, and Sakura hisses between her teeth, turns in the opposite direction, and vaults the next shelf to land hard in the middle of the aisle. She could yell for Sasuke and Naruto, somewhere beyond the armory, could call for Kakashi or Ino or anyone else with more magic than she has, but—

Translucent dragonfly wings flare out in a rush, and orange-gold eyes widen. A knight in white and crimson silks spins away from Sakura's punch, leaps up, turns over in the air. Sakura turns, but she’s half an instant too slow, just a little unprepared for the speed. She goes down hard when a foot hits her armor, rolls and comes to her feet to catch another dagger and then the woman’s wrist as she strikes.

“Wait!” she says, and hauls the woman a step closer, turns them before the knight can try to foul her feet. “Wait, we’re not the invaders!”

The knight freezes, and her gaze darts from Sakura to the door of the armory behind them. There are voices outside, though they're distant—the rest of her company, Sakura knows. It makes her ease her grip a little, tight enough that the woman can't pull away, but no longer bruising.

“We’re from Konoha,” she says. “Taki's runner came to us.”

“Too late,” the knight says, and reaches up, pulling her helmet off. Green hair falls loose around her shoulders, and she looks up at Sakura with a tired smile. “They’ve come and gone already.”

The king’s adopted daughter is easy enough to recognize, and Sakura lets her go quickly, taking two steps back. “Princess Fū,” she says, “I'm sorry, I—”

Fū laughs a little, setting the helm on a shelf and letting her dragonfly wings fold behind her with a sound like thin glass rattling. “I didn’t want to be recognized,” she says, and her eyes fall to Sakura's armor. “You're not wearing Konoha's mark.”

“We covered it,” Sakura admits, touching the patch of dark paint that shines new against worn metal. “Just in case it was a trap. Taki hasn’t always been an ally.”

If Fū takes offense at that, Sakura can't see it in her face. She just smiles, a little tired, a little sad, and glances around the armory. Her fingers drift across a chitin breastplate, abandoned on its hook, and she says, “It was a traitor. Or—kind of. Taki wronged him, and he wanted to destroy us for it. But Kakuzu didn’t get everyone. Most people fled before he got here with his army.”

Sakura doesn’t say that that was likely part of Kakuzu’s plan, thinning out the ranks of Taki's defenders so his sack of the city would be easier. It’s likely Fū already knows, regardless.

“Naruto is with us,” she offers gently. “And Shino, too. They're doing what they can.”

Fū nods determinedly. “Our Konoha cousins are always welcome in Taki,” she says, and Sakura realizes with a start that she’s not a princess anymore. Her father is dead, strung up from the great tree in the center of the palace. Those were the words of a queen, welcoming the Aburame family to her lands.

Even in battle-stained silks, ripped and torn and showing the bright-dark armor beneath, Fū looks like a queen. Young, scared, but—there's something in her eyes.

“Your majesty,” Sakura says softly, and Fū’s face twists. She presses her hands over her face, and in an instant the image of her as a queen is gone. Sakura steps forward automatically, reaching out, and Fū throws herself forward, slim arms winding around Sakura's neck as she collapses against her, trembling ever so faintly. Not crying, not quite, but dragonfly wings shimmer with a wash of prismatic colors as she folds to the ground, and Sakura moves with her. Tightening her arms around Fū, she presses her cheek to green hair, breathes in, breathes out.

“We’ll help in any way we can,” she whispers, and it’s not enough, not nearly, but Fū laughs a little bit, lifts her head to kiss Sakura's cheek.

“Thank you,” she says, and Sakura can't look away from deep-gold eyes, can't find her voice through the tightness in her chest.

She grips Fū’s hand, raises it to her mouth, and kisses the back of iridescent white scales wrapped in crimson silk. “Your majesty,” she says again. “Anything you require.”

Fū turns her hand to tangle their fingers together, and smiles like Sakura just gave her a gift.


End file.
